Review of article on Children's shoe sizes

Essay by steady__eddieA-, February 2004

download word file, 3 pages 5.0

The newspaper article "Poor shoes get kids off on wrong foot" from The Australian was dated 5th February 2004 and found in the Nation section. It appeared on page five and explores the issue of children sport shoe sizes and the author Caitlin Fitzsimmons illustrates her view from the opening line. She informs us that sport shoes cost "up to $80 a pop" and they "rarely fit," appealing to the reader's sense of value and concern when it comes to the health and wellbeing of their children.

The large colour photo above the article attracts the reader's attention with a large colour close-up shot of primary school student Harry Steele's feet; this shows the reader that the article will be about feet or shoes. The picture takes up two thirds of the total space. The sophisticated equipment used by Annaliese Dowling to measure the child's feet and the look of concentration on her face give the article a more concerned and serious tone.

Both subjects in the photo take up a large proportion of the photo and it completes the article by making references to the subject of shoes and feet. The headline "Poor shoes get kids off on wrong foot" is written in large font to help attract the reader's attention and takes a pun on the familiar saying, "to get off on the wrong foot" to draw the reader. It appears in the centre of the page and this helps to make it stand out over the rest on the same page. The article is aimed mainly at parents, but children could also learn of the danger of having shoes that don't fit.

The reader is educated and warned that the sizes of children's sport shoes are miscalculated and can lead to foot problems such as "'trivial...